TheBuzz

The Christmas card from Honolulu's Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing Lawyers, a Law Corp., was sent via email as so many companies' and organizations' and individuals' are — but this one has a twist that's all about giving to those less fortunate.

Two sold-out screenings of "The Untold Story: Internment of Japa­nese Americans in Hawaii" at the recent Hawaii International Film Festival left lingering demand that may be met in another screening at Consolidated Ward Stadium 16.

Memphis, Tenn.-based Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. will bring people to Hono­lulu from as far away as England and Japan for the 40th anniversary of the legend's "Aloha from Hawaii" concert from Hono­lulu.

An unauthorized APEC website mentioned in this column Monday has been taken offline by California-based InMotion Hosting Inc. A message on the page instructs the account holder to contact customer service and also indicates InMotion Hosting "cannot disclose any information regarding this account if you are not its owner or authorized party."

Anti-APEC voices are masquerading online as that which they disdain. At least one site with a Web address almost identical to the official APEC site's has been operating, offering mostly inactive links but with one leading to stories mocking the organization.

Smack in the middle of APEC week, all broadcast radio and television, cable and satellite companies and Hawaiian Telcom's Internet
protocol TV service are going to carry a long-planned, nationwide Emergency Alert System test.

The Hawaii Spam can design by Scott Kaneshiro of Mililani, encasing the reduced-sodium version of the staple, will hit store shelves Aug. 1 — and to promote the limited-time-only can design, Spam maker Hormel Foods is staging a video contest.

Monkeypod Kitchen by Peter Merriman will expand to Oahu’s Ko Olina Resort by next summer, but “we hope for late spring,” said Merriman, chef-owner of the restaurant destined to be the new flagship location. Construction is slated to begin in November.

The Apple store at Ala Moana Center will close for a $1.2 million renovation project, moving its operations to temporary space No. 2231 from existing space No. 2243 in the interim, according to public records.

The Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is the second-best hotel in the U.S. after the Elysian Hotel Chicago, according to analysis by U.S. News Media Group. The company used to publish U.S. News & World Report magazine, now an online-only publication, as well as other titles.

A newsroom colleague shared the news that "restaurant ‘death row' has claimed another one," and, sure enough, the less-than-year-old, Italian-American eatery that bore the storied Castagnola's name has been shuttered.

The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation is reinventing itself, not so much to be “not your father’s” farm bureau federation, but to carry Hawaii agriculture into the future and help the state become more self-reliant in its ability to feed its inhabitants.

Taro Delight LLC founder Tom Purdy has left the nest known as the Pacific Gateway Center and flown on to independence at a commercial kitchen from whence his taro-based food products are now being made.

Recently retired KITV reporter and longtime journalist Denby Fawcett will be inducted into the Associated Press Television & Radio Association Hall of Fame June 4 in a special ceremony preceeding its annual Mark Twain Awards.

The Hawaii Geek Meet is what happens when diverse, technology-oriented groups combine, including the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, the Emergency Amateur Radio Club and TechHui.com, sprinkled liberally with the LEGO Enthusiasts Association of Hawaii and the Pacific Outpost of the 501st Legion (you know, the Storm Troopers).

Becker Communications' 25th-anniversary commemoration will commence with $25,000 worth of pro-bono public relations work for the Domestic Violence Action Center, selected by judges from among 58 nonprofit entries to receive the award.

Many a commuter seeking morning coffee and Spam musubi for the road, or customer desperately in need of a cheese-sauce-covered hot dog have no doubt had their jaws drop upon seeing the Kaneohe 7-Eleven store not only closed, but cleaned out of all its merchandise and fixtures.

The reborn Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement can expect quite a bit of national ink following the performance of chefs and
restaurateurs George Mav­ro­tha­las­si­tis and Alan Wong and their crews at New York's James Beard House earlier this month.

Traditional news outlets had us glued to tsunami coverage, with pulses racing, from the Star-Advertiser website to television stations to the radio. Social media users shared links to news and video coverage from their own communities and around the world.

'Tis the season for hard-working public relations practitioners to speak up not for their clients, but for themselves, as the Public Relations Society of America Hawaii Chapter gathers entries for the 28th annual Koa Anvil Public Relations Awards.

Some 14 local companies and local units of national companies will be sharing Sunday's Super Bowl spotlight with the likes of GoDaddy.com, Anheuser-Busch InBev and other national and international advertisers who hope to leverage the biggest U.S. television audience of the year.

Dan Meisenzahl is sure to get a lot of "Oh, so you're the new Tammy Mori" cracks as he starts his new job Monday as information specialist for the state Department of Transportation. That is the same day Mori rejoins KHON-TV as its "Wake Up 2day" traffic reporter — she had joined the DOT in 2008.

Honolulu Coffee Co. owner Ed Schultz is hobnobbing with celebrities while serving them 100 percent Hawaii-grown coffee in the 2011 Golden Globe Celebrity Suites in Hollywood. The suites are set up in advance of the Golden Globes Awards telecast, coming up Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. on KHNL-TV.

The Hawaiian Punch mascot named "Punchy" has been upgraded for a reintroduction in stores and advertising next month. The two-dimensional version familiar to generations has been upgraded to appear more three-dimensional, according to a Dow Jones news report.

Titans retained dominance and a new format bested expectations in the most recent radio ratings survey, which ended shortly before a successful and beloved format vanished, leaving listeners lamenting.

The latest restaurant by chef and restaurateur Philippe Padovani will open Monday for lunch and dinner in the old L'Uraku space at 1341 Kapiolani Blvd., where he and chef Donato Loperfido opened 'Elua and then Loperfido opened Sapori Enoteca/Birreria.

Twenty-five large worth of free public relations work could go a long way toward helping one or more Hawaii nonprofit organizations get their message(s) out — which is what Becker Communications Inc. is offering in commemoration of its 25th anniversary.

KITV Senior Producer/Director Sid Milburn's resemblance to President Barack Obama is being cast to a much wider audience than those in the seats at Diamond Head Theatre for the annual "Gridiron" variety show staged by the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter.

Hawaii-based L&L Franchise Inc. has ranked No. 184 among the 2011 Franchise 500 list prepared by Entrepreneur magazine for its January issue, currently available online. The popular local plate lunch restaurant has 188 U.S. locations and three foreign locations but has been steadily expanding since it began franchising in 1991.

"Hawaii Five-0" star Daniel Dae Kim and Hawaii chef and restaurateur D. K. Kodama have sold their interests in burger franchise Counter Kahala LLC, which does business as The Counter, for undisclosed terms.

Hawaii recording artist Jake Shimabukuro will start the new year with a new CD release and a new one-year celebrity endorsement deal for Farmers Insurance Hawaii. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

So you've already done the doorbuster thing and have amassed only a portion of your intended pile of new electronics gifts (not just the ones for yourself) this holiday season -- and you're wondering what to do with the old stuff you'll need to get rid of, to make room for the new.

In 12 short days, sisters Noel Pietsch and Stephanie Pietsch Gambetta will be throwing open the doors to their new Wahoo's Fish Taco neighborhood restaurant in Kahala, at the corner of Kilauea and Pahoa avenues.

All those aerial beauty shots of Waikiki Beach during the September premiere of "Hawaii Five-0" 2.0 paid off for the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, where scenes were shot for tonight's episode. That September video, fed from a camera atop the Aston's Coconut Club, was used by the national entertainment press here to cover the event.

Seven educators from the San Diego Unified School District have been prohibited from traveling to Hawaii for the four-day International Baccalaureate professional development conference in Honolulu beginning Dec. 3, after a news report questioned the necessity of a Hawaii trip.

Hilton Hawaiian Village and its Tropics Bar & Grill not only served as backdrops and locations for scenes in Monday's "Hawaii Five-0" episode, they were mentioned in the script. Product placement is one thing, but geez Louise, how much did that cost?

The trio of TV stations known as Hawaii Now or, for newscast branding purposes, Hawaii News Now, will mark its first anniversary Oct. 26, two days before the Oct. 28 start of the November Nielsen ratings.

Pablo's Cantina will open in the former Compadres Mexican Bar & Grill space in Ward Centre tomorrow night with a series of fundraisers. Its grand opening will be Oct. 22. It's sort of expected in Hawaii that when a restaurant opens, the first night will benefit a nonprofit, but to have multiple nights to help multiple organizations is unusual.

Chef George Mavrothalassitis' eponymous Chef Mavro restaurant has been notified of its third consecutive AAA Five Diamond win and will be presented with the award in January. He credits his "energetic" staff, the average age of which is in its 30s when he is removed from the equation, he chuckled.

Tamura Enterprises Inc. will expand its full-service grocery store chain to the old Barbers Point Navy Commissary on Enterprise Avenue before the end of the year, giving it three grocery stores in addition to its three wine and spirits stores.

Not every birth goes well. Not every baby born gets to go home with its mother right away. Sometimes babies and mothers are wrenched apart due to medical fragility and the infant's need to receive critical care on Oahu. With help from Aloha Air Cargo and Hawaii Mothers' Milk Inc. that dates back to sometime in the 1980s, those babies can still get their own mothers' milk.

The new owner of the first family's so-called "winter White House" is continuing to market the home as a private, luxury rental and has as yet no confirmation that the first family will be vacationing there this holiday season.

Hawaii Cord Blood Bank might just become a household name, now that it will be the focus of the Ad 2 Honolulu 2010-2011 pro-bono public service campaign. Ad 2 Honolulu, itself a nonprofit, has been providing marketing campaigns for Hawaii nonprofit organizations since 1969 and has repeatedly won national recognition in the process.

SMEI Honors Dennis Francis
Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) recently honored Honolulu Star-Advertiser president and publisher Dennis Francis as its 2014 Salesperson of the Year in Sheraton Waikiki’s Hawaii Ballroom. Read More »